At 12:14 a.m. Thursday, however, fire officials responded to possible reports of overcrowding at the venue, according to Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Witnesses said police came after and told people to go home.

An artist named Kraddy was celebrating the release of an EP and was a few songs into a DJ set when a fire inspector, who he said had been watching the scene, stepped onto the stage and told him he was playing the last song of the evening.

"He said this is the last song," Kraddy, a.k.a 36-year-old Matthew Kratz, said. "That was brutal. Definitely it was packed, though."

Other sources told the Weekly that four fire trucks and two police cars were outside the club as patrons filed out.